Lyme Goes to Court to Keep Ferries Running

Despite a mid-afternoon announcement that state employee unions may revisit an agreement on concessions, Lyme’s Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to sue the state in an effort to stop it from shuttering the Chester-Hadlyme and Glastonbury-Rocky Hill ferry services.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed shuttering the historic ferries as part of a broader effort to close a $1.6 billion shortfall in his two-year budget. The move has alarmed and angered officials and residents in the towns served by the ferries. They argue the ferries are essential to public safety, because they transport patients across the Connecticut River when local bridges are impassable.  The ferries, they say, are also important to local tourism.

The Lyme Board of Selectmen met Monday afternoon with its town attorney, Kenneth M. McKeever, to discuss options to challenging the state’s proposal to shut down the ferry services. McKeever said the town would have to file a court appeal of the plan and do so in a hurry because ferry workers have received notice that they will be laid off as of Aug. 24. That means the ferry boats will have to be taken out of service earlier than that layoff date, probably by mid-August. It will take at least two weeks, McKeever told the three-member board, to draw up the paperwork to file an appeal in Hartford Superior Court.

That appeal, he said, will include a request for immediate stay of Malloy’s layoff notices to the ferries' eight workers.

McKeever said he is hoping to convince a judge that Malloy’s plan is illegal under at least two separate state laws, one which mandates that the state maintain a ferry service, the other that requires the state to seek input before altering a scenic highway.

Both ferries are extensions of highways that end at the Connecticut River; Route 148 in Hadlyme and Tryon Street in South Glastonbury, both of which are designated as scenic roads.  McKeever said that eliminating the ferries would be considered a “substantial change, a major change,” to both scenic roads.

And if those arguments don’t work, McKeever said, state law also requires towns to provide for adequate public safety. The ferries, he said, play an essential role in public safety since ambulances use it when traffic is backed up on local bridges.

Upon learning during the meeting that the state appeared to be moving closer to a new agreement with the unions, which could stave off Malloy’s budget-cutting plans, Lyme First Selectman Ralph Eno said his town intends to move forward with challenging the ferry proposal anyway.

“We’re not taking any chances,” he said. He also argued that even if the state abandons the closure plan, it could revisit cutting the ferries next year if Malloy’s budget requires revisions. Eno said he doesn’t believe Malloy’s plan to balance the two-year budget with union concessions will work. He called the union deal a “mythological document” that doesn’t have the savings its backers believe and said he thinks the state will again seek to cut the ferry services if it runs short of cash.

Eno said other towns other towns affected by the proposed ferry service shutdown, including Chester, East Haddam and Rocky Hill, have expressed an interest in joining the lawsuit.

The state statutes in consideration are:

Sec. 13a-252. Certain ferries to be operated by state. Fees. Rocky Hill ferry deemed a state historic structure. (a) The ferries crossing the Connecticut River, known as the Rocky Hill ferry and the Chester and Hadlyme ferry, shall be maintained and operated by the Commissioner of Transportation at the expense of the state. The rates of toll or the charges to be made for travel upon said ferries shall be fixed by the commissioner with the approval of the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management. The commissioner may establish a discounted commuter rate for travel upon said ferries.

      (b) All expense of maintenance, repairs and operation of said ferries shall be paid by the Comptroller on vouchers of the commissioner. The commissioner shall include in his report to the General Assembly a report of the receipts and expenditures incidental to the control and maintenance of said ferries. Said Rocky Hill ferry shall be maintained as a state historic structure and shall be so marked with an appropriate plaque by the commissioner in cooperation with the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Sec. 13b-31d. Alteration or improvement of scenic road. Prior to altering or improving a state highway or portion thereof that has been designated a scenic road, pursuant to section 13b-31c, the Commissioner of Transportation shall cause to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality or municipalities in which such scenic road is located, a notice describing the alteration or improvement. There shall be a comment period following the public notice during which interested persons may submit written comments.